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Effect of Enzyme on Harmful Components Reduction in
Reconstituted Tobacco
T H Huang
1
, Q S Shi
2,3
, K Wei
1
, J P Gui
2,3
and L S Zheng
2,3, *
1
China Tobacco Guangxi Industrial Co. LTD., Guangxi, 530001, China
2
School of Biological Science and Medical Engineering, Beihang University, Key
Laboratory for Biomechanics and Mechanobiology of Ministry of Education, Beijing,
100083, China
3
Beijing Advanced Innovation Centre for Biomedical Engineering, Beihang
University, Beijing, 100083, China
Corresponding author and e-mail: L S Zheng, lishazheng@buaa.edu.cn
Abstract. To explore the influence of the composite enzymes on harmful components in
reconstituted tobacco, we developed compound enzymes which included power of cellulose
(23-41%, 100,000U/g), xylanase (10-23%, 100,000U/g), complex protease (41-57%,
100,000U/g), pectinase (5-6%, 100,000U/g) and amylase (1.5-3.8%, 10,000U/g). The
compound enzymes were added to the reconstituted tobacco (0.4% enzymes, incubated for 1
h at 45 ± 5°C). We evaluated the quality of the reconstituted tobacco using physical and
chemical indices. The results show that protein and pectin contents were effectively reduced,
with improved taste of the cigarette smoke, and harmful ingredients were reduced, such as
ammonia and hydrogen cyanide, in the mainstream smoke of the composite enzyme treatment
group compared with the untreated control group. This approach will reduce the danger of
mainstream smoke in reconstituted tobacco.
1. Introduction
Papermaking process reconstituted tobacco (RTL) is a type of tobacco product that utilizes
papermaking technology to produce a tobacco product. RTL uses tobacco stems and fines as the
major raw material. The main process of producing RTL includes placing the reconstituted tobacco
raw material in water, immersing and extracting the soluble material, and separating the insoluble
material. Secondly, a sheet is produced from a fiber base of insoluble material using a paper machine.
The insoluble substances are made into substrates, such as base paper, using a similar paper-making
method. Then, concentrated soluble substances are added with other additives to the substrate, which
becomes RTL after drying. A certain amount of recycled tobacco is added to the cigarette as a filling
material, which saves tobacco, reduces the cost of the cigarettes, and adjusts and improves the
physical properties and chemical composition of the cigarette [1-4]. However, biological
macromolecules, such as proteins, starch, and pectin, may affect the quality and effect of recycled
tobacco. Both domestic and overseas researchers have used bio-enzymes to transform and degrade
cellulose, lignin, pectin, proteins, starch, and other bio-macromolecules that influence the quality of
reconstituted tobacco to reduce the content of these macromolecules, which reduces the impurities
Huang, T., Shi, Q., Wei, K., Gui, J. and Zheng, L.
Effect of Enzyme on Harmful Components Reduction in Reconstituted Tobacco.
In Proceedings of the International Workshop on Materials, Chemistry and Engineering (IWMCE 2018), pages 351-356
ISBN: 978-989-758-346-9
Copyright © 2018 by SCITEPRESS – Science and Technology Publications, Lda. All rights reserved
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